10 sounds about as knowledgeable as WIN does.
On another note, is this one of the few times all the commercials are working together instead of bickering with each other?
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I didn’t realise Albury was impacted as well… at Baranduda?
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Working fine for me
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Anyway, there won’t be any connection to the power-grid for a while on Mt Alexander. The 22kV line up Mount Alexander and needs a complete rebuild with new transformer(s) etc. And not just on the mountain either….
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Mt Baranduda might get its program from links at Mt Alexander?
The emergency plan for these high power Class B sites went along the lines of you get a telescopic crane, a donga and a generator to site - you lift some antennas above the tree line with flexible freeders and power up some low power transmitters in the donga from the generator. Program comes from either satellite or off air from an another site that is receivable at the damaged location. Basic script works for most TV or FM. Even a weak DTV signal may be enough to get program into the TV translators associated with Alexander. There is other variations depending on if the existing tower and feeders were damaged by the fire and if the combiner is fire damaged or not.
I hope Mt Alexander doesn’t get the same treatment that Channel 10 did at Yatpool though. In regional TV anything is possible.
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If that were the case, I would have thought Shepparton would be impacted too but there is no mention of them in that press release.
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I think that was just WIN being WIN, since that was a JV. But since 10 now own the regional outlets in aggregated Victoria, probably less likely.
Is the ABC (and SBS) still off air, or are they somehow back on air?
If they are off, then it’s a bit confusing how they commercials keep referring to it as only impacting the commercial networks, when in reality, it’s impacting all networks.
It’s the typical commercial response. ABC and SBS don’t exist as far as they’re concerned 
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Sounds like a low power temporary set up from Bendigo town, rather than at Mt Alexander.
Yep it sure does - looks like they only have local radio up and running atm.
It seems like everything at Mt Alexander is still off air. 91.1 is coming from an alternate location and SCA are working on an alternate site (I assume the roof or tower next to the studios).
The 3 commercial networks were at the Indara/Axicom/Southern Cross site which appears to have been completely destroyed.
The ABC/SBS and all radio stations are at the BAI site about 50m away. Previous reports are that this site didn’t get too much damage with it pretty much confined to the generator hut and antenna feeders.
On that basis, I’d expect the BAI site could be up and running again on a reasonable timeframe, if it’s it 100% temporary backup generator for a while.
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A few regional commercial radio studios have a low power FM transmitter and antenna in town on the studio roof if the mountain top site is off air and cannot be accessed or repaired. Back in my day the ABC didn’t have them but that may have changed since the Emergency Broadcasting contract was awarded??
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Maybe Bendigo and Central Victoria may have to have VAST until the transmitters can be repaired (could be 3-4 months or longer), meaning that viewers will have to see ads for Alice Springs and Mount Isa businesses instead of local Bendigo ones?
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Burned coax feeders are a terrible job - you can try and connectorise them above the burn but it is an awful place to try and put an EIA connector on 6’ or 8’ coax. Rigid feeder is easier to fix as you don’t need to put a connector on it.
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Note the following in the Emergency Radio area
Re ABC 91.1
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Seven have also posted about the transmitter being off for Bendigo. It also mentioned Corryong. Perhaps the bushfire in the North East has caused damage? Which is why TEN and WIN have mentioned issues in Albury?
https://transmission.seven.com.au/hc/en-au/articles/42591743058829-Victorian-Bushfire-Update
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There are several relay sites around the area of the north east fire. The Hunters Hill repeater looks to be in the middle of the fire ground, but there’s also another site at Corryong. It could either be a destroyed/damaged site, or just a case of power loss and unable to get crews in.
@dutymainttech ABC doesn’t have emergency transmitters or antennas on their regional studios. So nothing has changed there.
Wonder if the Mt Alexander mess will mean they finally bring down the old analog ABEV channel 1 array? Maybe they could use the space to facilitate all FM and TV stations onto the one tower and demolish the commercial one.
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